Lady Dawgs cruise in home opener

The Ionia girls basketball team played up-tempo game plan to pick up a 43-point victory Tuesday night as the Bulldogs topped the Panthers of Alma 66-21 in the season opener for both squads.

"This is a great start to our season and we had a great effort from our girls," Ionia coach Andy Barr said. "I thought we shared the ball well and probably would have had few more assists if we hadn't missed a few lay ups in the second half, but overall, this is the kind of effort you want to have to start the season."

The Lady Dawgs pressure on defense gave the Panthers problems all night, and allowed Ionia to take a 23-7 advantage after eight minutes of play. They increased their advantage to 44-13 by halftime.

Many of the Bulldogs points came off the fastbreak as they looked to push the ball up the floor.

"We got after it pretty well (on defense)," Barr said. "We had a little trouble with (Maddy) Seeley, but she is a really nice player. We had a hard time trapping her, so we decided we would just put one person on her and where ever she went we were going to stay with her and that seemed to help out."

Junior Sarah Swartz led Ionia with 23 points and seven steals, while junior Taylor Bovee finished with 20 points and eight steals. Senior Erika Ketchum earned five points, seven rebounds and four steals, junior Joanna Miller chipped in with five points and sophomore Anna Riccius pulled down five rebounds.

Ionia (1-0) will travel to Williamston on Friday for a Capital Area Activities Conference crossover against the Hornets from the White Division.